It's interesting to read about the fear of litigation come up a few times as a reason for a landlord's refusal. That culture of litigation and fear of litigation does not (yet) exist here down under....It doesn't really make sense to me anyway. Does the landlord get sued if a tenant's dog bites the neighbour? I wouldn't think so.

The problem is that perception is reality. If someone has a fear it does not have to be valid or confirmed by a lawyer. Sometimes this can be fixed with education and it sounds like you did that.

Has a landlord gotten sued because a tenants dog bites a neighbor? Yes, many times here in the US.

Pretty liberal. Unless of course you are a genuine refugee arriving on a boat with a hundred others and the boat is leaking and about to sink. Then we'll rescue you, place you offshore someplace like Nauru and take a few years to process your application. Welcome.

I know America has the reputation of being litigious and infested by lawyers - but I really don't think it is any different here in Australia - after all our legal systems are both basically the same, descended from the British, and have evolved down the same pathways. In my experience, lawyers here can come up with just as much weirdness and litigation with strange outcomes as in America.

As for immigrating here from America, plenty do, and welcome too, you can even get permanaent residency without having to loose your US citizenship, you still get to vote in Oz. If you have enough money and bring it in with you, you can jump to the front of the queue as a business immigrant. Come on over, no Varroa (yet), and very little winter here either, most Ozbees are on honeyflow all year round. Our taxes are, I think overall less than yours too, and its a pretty easy going sort of place, Cricket is not compulsory -and ya get mangoes for Christmas .

As a person with some rental homes, I'm sure the concern of the landlord is getting sued if someone has an allergic reaction in the neighborhood. The landlord is the guy with the assets the lawyers can grab; a house. If you try to put yourself in his/her position, is it worth risking a lawsuit to allow bees on the property? I would say no too (on a small city lot), and I'm a beekeeper. I do have a place with a big lot which I have rented and had bees on; it would be a real stretch for a lawyer to blame a hive 150 meters away from people as being irresponsible.

You say the lot is only 700 sq meters? If my math is right, that is only 0.143 acres; that really is a small lot to be keeping bees on IMO. My advice would be to move to a more rural location and ask the landlord if they would allow bees. Most landlords love a good renter that pays on time and are willing to work with you as long as you don't put them at some legal risk. Good luck with your bee keeping. It is addictive.

I had 6 hives on a lot of a similar size without any problems. Bees fly 5 km - I can't see the issue?

Of course the lawyers didn’t go after the guy who owned the bees themselves, since bee keeping isn’t the most financially rewarding business out there. Instead they go after the property owners and in this case the City. (Good luck fighting City Hall…that is one battle the lawyers likely lost! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:)

Same kind of thing happens with dogs here. If you rent to somebody with a dog and the dog attacks the mailman, meter reader, or neighbor kids, the landlord will get sued. The average reward for a personal injury is now $60,000 here.

As another poster said, there really isn’t much cash flow in the rental business after you subtract out the higher taxes, property insurance, and maintenance. If your landlord has a mortgage on top of all that, they very likely have a negative cash flow. Any chance of a law suit is simply not worth the hassle on things that aren’t generating that much cash to begin with.

Within a 5 km radius we still have many feral hives in Australia. While my bees maybe very easy to identify ( the read socks are a dead give-away!) most people would never be able to pin-point the bee with the criminal streak. Dogs would be different deal.